this labor day weekend, kelly got the crazy idea that we should just hop in the car and drive to monterey, which is two-and-a-half hours south of san francisco. From zero to in-the-car in the 30 minutes, we went for the day. sadly, the monterey that steinbeck wrote of is mostly gone, replaced by mega-square-foot facsimilies made from cheap materials that are supposed to look like the quaint boardwalks, tin roofs, and post-and-beam warehouses of the early 1900s. Still, you can tell it was once a really romantic place.
the real reason to go to Monterey these days is the aquarium. I think this could be the largest public one in the world. It just goes on and on and on. It's $15/head, and they get 6-15,000 visitors a day, and they still need donations... that's how big this place is, and how well done it is. it was well worth the drive.

brian checking out the trashy trinkets on the wharf

brian in the 'blue room' of the aquarium

this tank is just for kelp. there is another set of windows as tall as the windows you see, above these windows. it's a BIG tank.

brian carefully checking out the touch tank area.

us outside the aquarium. look familiar? this area was in in star trek IV.

^ the aquarium has penguins now!

just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the cool stuff we saw

^ kelly standing by the famous street sign.

< 'forrest gump' outside the cheaply-built bubba gump resturaunt

this is way more cool than some dried-up starfish!